Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Rosids: Fabids: Malpighiales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Viola walteri
FAMILY
Violaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
For the most current and comprehensive body of information regarding violets in our region, visit the new website Violets (Violaceae) of the Great Plains and Eastern North America.
Read more about Walter's Violet at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
This species and V. appalachiensis are our only mat-forming members of subsect. Rostratae. It is distinct from V. appalachiensis in its densely puberulent foliage and peduncle, typically ‘‘variegated’’ or bicolorous leaves with gray-green or silvery-green lamina and darker green veins, deeply lacerate to laciniate stipules, and other features as noted in the key... Read more in Weakley's Flora.
If the mat-forming stems and elongate spur went unnoticed or flowers were not present, this species could potentially be confused with V. hirsutula on the basis of the relatively short broad variegated leaves, but its densely puberulent foliage would distinguish it. Read more in Weakley's Flora.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Viola walteri
FAMILY
Violaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Viola walteri
SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 6 (2015)
Viola walteri var. walteri
SYNONYMOUS WITH Violaceae of the Southeastern US (McKinney & Russell, 2002)
Viola walteri var. walteri
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Viola walteri
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 130-02-025:
Viola walteri FAMILY Violaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Viola walteri
COMMON NAME:
Walter's Violet, Prostrate Blue Violet
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
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USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_viwa_001_lvd
)
JK Marlow jkm100313_134
March Gadsden County FL
Angus Gholson Nature Park
A white form.
)
JK Marlow jkm100313_134b
March Gadsden County FL
Angus Gholson Nature Park
Calyx glabrous, eciliate; auricles short and entire, not elongating in fruit, per Violets (Violaceae) of the Great Plains and Eastern North America (Ballard).
)
Jose Villa jov_031123_1559
March Oconee County SC
Its leaves are roundish, blunt at the tip, purple beneath, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_viola_walteri
March
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Herbarium of Clemson University h_cu44207
April Tuscaloosa County AL
Stems rooting at nodes generating next year's plants (thus mat-forming), per Weakley's Flora.
)
Herbarium of Clemson University h_cu55969
April Berkeley County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm090404_252
April Walker County GA
Pigeon Mountain
)
JK Marlow jkm090404_254
April Walker County GA
Pigeon Mountain
)
JK Marlow jkm190412_7213
April Rabun County GA
)
JK Marlow jkm190412_7214
April Rabun County GA
Leaves usually purple on the under side, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm190412_7215
April Rabun County GA
)
JK Marlow jkm190412_7216
April Rabun County GA
Petals pale to dark blue-violet. Lateral petals bearded, per Violaceae of the Southeastern US (McKinney & Russell, 2002).
)
JK Marlow jkm220421_7080
April Pickens County SC
Nine Times Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm220421_7082
April Pickens County SC
Nine Times Preserve
)
Patrick D. McMillan pdmvwalteri_chauga2
April Oconee County SC
Chau-Ram County Park
Stipules deeply laciniate, per Weakley's Flora.
)
JK Marlow jkm180506_1965
May Crawford County GA
)
JK Marlow jkm180506_1967
May Crawford County GA
Note stipules.
)
Herbarium of Clemson University h_cu10135
August Anderson County SC
An interesting transition between caulescent & acaulescent violets, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm071025_004
October Pickens County SC
Clemson Forest
Leaf blades moderately to densely puberulent over entire surface, per Weakley's Flora.
)
JK Marlow jkm071101_011
November Oconee County SC
Sumter National Forest: Andrew Pickens Ranger District
Petioles, peduncles and stems moderately to densely puberulent, per Weakley's Flora.
)
JK Marlow jkm211106_4749
November Pickens County SC
Palmetto Trail
)
JK Marlow jkm211106_4750
November Pickens County SC
Palmetto Trail
)
JK Marlow jkm221103_0532
November Pickens County SC
Nine Times Preserve
)
Sharleen Johnson shj_1132118227488843
December Charleston County SC
Francis Marion National Forest
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Viola walteri
FAMILY
Violaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Viola walteri
FAMILY
Violaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Viola walteri
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 6
Viola walteri var. walteri
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Violaceae of the Southeastern US (McKinney & Russell, 2002)
Viola walteri var. walteri
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Viola walteri
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 130-02-025:
Viola walteri
FAMILY
Violaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Viola walteri
1665
Forb
Perennial/Winter annual
Habitat: Nutrient-rich woodlands and forests, dolomite bluffs and ledges especially on mafic or calcareous rocks to the north, sandy or rocky and often acidic soils in dry or dry-mesic forests southward, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common (uncommon in Mountains of GA & NC) (uncommon in SC Coastal Plain) (rare in NC Piedmont)
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Basal leaves partially evergreen
Simple
Plant caulescent ("leafy-stemmed"), sometimes appearing acaulescent ("stemless")
Margins finely crenate
Plant minutely pubescent
FLOWER:
Winter/Spring
Blue-violet
Bilaterally symmetrical
Lateral petals bearded
5 sepals
5 petals
5 stamens
FRUIT:
Spring/Summer
Capsule
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019) p404
- Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999) p052
- Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Georgia (Chafin, 2016) p354
- Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005) p079
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005) p102
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p101
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